


We're All In This Together

by OhsheisnotFrench



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: Established Relationship, Homophobia, If BMC did High School Musical, Jeremy’s mom sucks, M/M, Panic Attacks, Secret Relationship, Senior year, The original characters are kinda just there, post squip
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-21
Updated: 2020-04-21
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:55:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,837
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23761180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OhsheisnotFrench/pseuds/OhsheisnotFrench
Summary: Jeremy convinces Michael to do theatre along with him and everyone else. Michael has no confidence that he'll actually get a role but then he does.
Relationships: Brooke Lohst & Michael Mell, Christine Canigula & Michael Mell, Christine Canigula/Jeremy Heere (past), Jake Dillinger/Rich Goranski, Jeremy Heere/Michael Mell, Michael Mell & Chloe Valentine, Michael Mell & Jenna Rolan
Comments: 2
Kudos: 30





	We're All In This Together

“I already told you I’d do tech Jere.”  
He frowned.  
“I know but you are a great singer, come on, just audition.”  
“And make a fool of myself? Yeah right.” I scoffed.  
He grabbed my hand and squeezed it lightly.  
“Please Micah?” He begged.  
“Look Jere, I already made up my mind. I’m just not one for performing.”  
The pout remained on his face. I knew I had already stood my ground but it was getting harder and harder to say no to him.  
“I’ll give you anything you want.”  
I glanced over at him. I was gonna question his seriousness about what he was saying but a bigger question struck my mind.  
“Why do you want me in the show so bad? I can spend just as much time with you if I did tech.”  
“I just wanted to show everyone how talented you are.” He mumbled.  
I looked over at him again and he looked really disappointed. I threw my head back and groaned.  
“You’ll give me anything I want?”  
His face tinted red.  
“Yes, anything.”  
“Alright...buy me a week's worth of slushies and I’ll do it.”  
“Oh…”  
I furrowed my eyebrows at him.  
“What? Is that too much.”  
“No, it’s just… I kinda thought you were gonna ask for something else.”  
“What did you think I was gonna ask for?”  
He didn’t have to answer. The way his face turned bright red was answer enough. I playfully shoved him.  
“Jesus Jer, I knew you were a horndog but I didn’t think it was this bad.” I said with a chuckle.  
“Shut up.” Jeremy said with a huff.  
I leaned close to him.  
“And we can do that anytime.” I whispered in his ear.  
I pulled back and chuckled at how flustered he got. I got out of my car and made my way into the school. Jeremy quicked came to my side. We met the rest of our friends by our normal stairwell. When we got there, everyone was sitting on the steps...except Christine. She was talking about something.  
“Auditions are today! Aren’t you guys so excited? I can’t wait like I’ve been preparing for this for forever! Wait, I just made a Dear Evan Hansen reference! But what if I don’t get a big part? I mean being in the theatre is amazing no matter what and the ensemble is totally underappreciated but…” Christine rambled.  
“Chris, calm down sweetie. You are gonna get a part.” Jenna assured her.  
“You were made for this Chris.” Jake encouraged me.  
The rest of us murmured in agreement. She took a deep breath. She then turned to look at me.  
“Oh Mikey! Just the person I wanted to talk to!”  
My eyebrow raised.  
“Look, I know you said you were gonna do tech and I know you said that you don’t like to perform…”  
“Christine.” Jeremy cut in, but Christine kept talking.  
“But I really think you should think it over again like you would be so amazing…”  
“Christine.”  
“Like you don’t have to or anything I just think…”  
“Christine!” I finally decided to say.  
She looked at me.  
“I’m gonna audition.”  
Everyone except for Jeremy gave me a shocked look.  
“I thought you said you would rather die than perform on stage.” Jenna reminded us.  
I shrugged.  
“Wait, why isn’t Jeremy surprised?” Brooke asked.  
Everyone brought their attention onto Jeremy.  
“I’m pretty persuasive.” He stated.  
Jake and Rich looked at each other before breaking out into laughter. Jenna then proceeded to hit both of them.  
“Thanks Jenna.”  
“Hey! We were laughing because of something totally unrelated.” Rich declared.  
“Right.” Chloe drawled.  
“Can someone explain how you actually...audition?”  
Christine perked up.  
“We’ve got work to do.” She declared before taking my wrist and dragging me away.  
“We have class Chris.” I reminded her.  
“Well, we can prepare a bit now and then finish preparing and actually rehearse during lunch.”  
“I was gonna take Jeremy to get lunch off campus…” I started but then looked at Christine’s pout.  
“But I guess we can rehearse during lunch.”  
Her pout turned into a big smile.  
“The audition process is a wonderful thing Mikey.”  
“But last year, all you had to do was sign up for the play.”  
“Well last year is different Mikey. Plus that was a PLAY not a MUSICAL. Musicals are far more complex.”  
“Because you have to make sure the people can sing and act?”  
“And dance.” She added.  
She dragged me into the band room.  
“Why are we in here?” I asked.  
“Well it’s the first room I thought of that wasn’t a classroom.”  
“What about the aud?”  
She gave me a blank look. She didn’t even answer before she placed down her backpack.  
“Sit.” She instructed.  
I did as she said.  
“Wait a minute, what show are we even doing?” I asked.  
If you saw the look she gave me, you’d probably assume I killed her family.  
“You don’t even know the show?”  
I shook my head.  
“Mikey, it’s High School Musical.”  
I groaned.  
“Look, obviously Teen Beach Movie is better but I don’t think our school will really allow that.”  
I was about to ask her why but then thought of a few reasons.  
“Anyway, do you know the song ‘We’re All In This Together?’” She asked.  
“Well I kinda have to. Jere sings it nonstop.”  
She smiled brightly.  
“Well, you are already one step ahead of the game!”  
“Who says that?”  
She completely ignored my question.  
“Well, we learn the choreo for that later but now we need to get you to do another song. Now I would normally not suggest ‘mainstream’ musical songs but to be fair, Mr. Reyes doesn’t care. I already have mine down, one we need to help you with yours.”  
“Wait, what’s yours?”  
She smirked.  
“Just something Jere and I’ve been working on. I’m sure you’ll like it.”  
Right and that wasn’t intimidating at all.  
“Anyway, focus! Now which musicals do you know?”  
“Umm Dear Evan Hansen, Heathers, Hamilton, The Lighting Thief… umm Six and Mean Girls?”  
“Alright, we can cut Six out. Same with The Lighting Theif. Both good musicals but would be very hard to pull off for one reason or another.”  
“I’ll have you know I would play an amazing K Howard.” I interjected.  
“Of course you would Mikey but…” She said as she pulled out her phone. “We need something more you.”  
She scrolled through her phone for a while.  
“I think either Heathers or Dear Evan Hansen are your best choices, I assume you know those two the best.”  
“I do… now what?”  
“Well we eliminate songs you don’t know well or include multiple people...well Freeze Your Brain is still up in the air. I mean it’s one line that’s not JD. We also need to make sure the song isn’t too long.”  
“Well, that gets rid of a lot.”  
“It does…” She says and then gives her phone a confused look.  
“I think you are gonna have to do Heathers Mikey. These Dear Evan Hansen songs are way longer than I thought.”  
“That’s fine, which Heathers songs do I have?”  
“Umm Freeze Your Brain, Lifeboat and…. Kindergarten Boyfriend.”  
I thought it over a little bit.  
“Well I’ve listened to Kindergarten Boyfriend once so…”  
“I think your best choice is Freeze Your Brain.”  
I nodded. I knew the song very well and could relate to some of it.  
“Well that’s settled. During lunch, we can work on the song.”  
“You sure Mr. Reyes isn’t gonna mind the fact I’m doing a popular musical?”  
She smiled.  
“Pshhh, no way. He’s a sucker for all theatre, and you’ll blow him away. Just trust me.”  
I really had no other option. Guess I just had to wait until lunch.  
\----  
Class was super boring but I guess I had something to look forward to. I quickly ate the school’s lunch, which was way grosser than I remembered before Christine started urging me to hurry up. Before I left, Jeremy asked where we were going.  
“To the band room.” Christine answered.  
“Can I come?”  
Before Christine could answer, I answered for her.  
“Of course dude.”  
Christine glared at me.  
“It was supposed to be rehearsal time.” She complained.  
“Jeremy can help.”  
“Jeremy is gonna distract you.”  
“Actually, it’s usually the other way around. I promise I won’t distract him.”  
Christine sighed before smiling softly.  
“Fine, let’s go.” She urged.  
She grabbed my hand and dragged me out of the cafeteria. Jeremy followed after us. We made it into the band room.  
“I’m surprised it’s empty during lunch, usually there’s people in here.” Jeremy pointed out.  
“Best part is there's rarely any band kids in here. Mostly just horny people  
“You are acting like the band kids aren’t constantly horny.” Jeremy joked.  
I raised my eyebrows.  
“You’re one to talk Mr. I’ll give you whatever you want.” I teased.  
Jeremy’s face grew red.  
“Focus Mikey. We’ve got to work on this.”  
“Can’t I just wing it?” I asked.  
“This isn’t just some english essay Mikey! This is theatre.”  
I sighed.  
“Fine, what should I do first?”  
“Vocal warm ups obviously.” Christine stated as she pulled out her phone.  
“Vocal warm ups?”  
“Yes Micah. You need to do vocal warm ups.”  
“Since when do you call Michael Micah?” Jeremy asked.  
“I was just trying it out, doesn’t feel right.” Christine responded.  
“Well that’s because it’s my nickname for him. The rest of you can use Mikey.” Jeremy declared as he wrapped his arms around my waist.  
Christine ignored him and continued to look on her phone. She pulled up a video of vocal warm ups and I did them. The two of them sat down on chairs as they watched me. Some of the warm ups were pretty weird and I was sure they were gonna laugh at me. Surprisingly, they didn’t. It went on for about 5 minutes before Christine stopped me. She smiled and went back to typing on her phone.  
“Alright, I have the track right here, how well do you know the lyrics?”  
“I’m pretty sure I know them all.”  
She nodded before counting down and playing the music. I knew the two of them wouldn’t judge me if I messed up but I was scared to. I’ve never really performed on stage before unless you count those stupid assemblys we had in elementary school where you basically were forced to. The nervousness didn’t really fade away like Jeremy had kept trying to convince me of but it wasn’t awful. I knew I could’ve sung better and I knew my voice was a bit shaky. I started to doubt this whole performing thing. Who really thinks I could get up on a stage and perform. Was it bad I secretly hoped to not be casted like at all? I knew the chances of that were basically nothing since the ensemble existed but at least then no one would watch me. I would just be in the background. Now that I think about it, I never really minded being in the background too much. I mean, I was jealous that Jeremy had the nerves to try to be cool with the SQUIP but being cool was never my main priority. I cared about just surviving high school with my best friend. I was glad I had that now. I tried my best to push away the SQUIP things. It just hurt me the more I thought about them. Sometimes, the thoughts would get bad but now I had multiple friends by my side plus my boyfriend. I smiled at the thought of Jeremy being my boyfriend. The song soon ended and I looked at Jeremy and Christine’s faces. They didn’t look extremely proud which caused a pang in my heart. I knew this performance stuff wasn’t for me. I was gonna make a fool of myself at the audition.  
“Well?” I asked.  
The two of them looked at each other before smiling. Christine shot out of her chair and wrapped her arms around me.  
“That was awesome Mikey! All you need to work on is not being so nervous. It causes your voice to shake.”  
I felt the corner of my lips tug into a smile. She kept her arms wrapped around me. I looked at Jeremy, waiting for him to talk.  
“Wow, I have a talented boyfriend.”  
I felt a small blush appear on my face.  
“You know it babe.” I said with a wink.  
I went to go and hug him but Chris was still wrapped around me. I shrugged and waved Jere to come over. He came over and hugged me too. I kissed him on the top of the head.  
\----  
Now that auditions were here, I was super nervous. Apparently since the play last year, people found out the drama club existed and since it was a popular musical, a lot of people wanted in.  
“I never knew our school had a theatre.” I heard someone say.  
I chuckled.  
“I’m just here because I heard last year, the play people got ecstasy.”  
That caused me to roll my eyes. If only they knew. I guess the saying ignorance is bliss really does describe something. There were a lot of kids I didn’t really know there. I grinned. There was no way I’d get the spotlight with all these people here. I looked around and assumed about 10 people max actually cared about the theatre. Soon enough, Mr. Reyes came in. He was stunned by all the students there.  
“Oh my…. So many dedicated students!” Mr. Reyes exclaimed.  
Right...dedicated. How Mr. Reyes didn’t get fired and how the people involved with the play last year didn’t get in trouble was beyond me but I wasn’t gonna complain. So Mr.Reyes explained how the auditions were going to go which was a whole separate issue. I would have to perform in front of everyone. Sure they would be sitting towards the back of the theatre but still. I sit next to Jeremy and Jenna. Jenna was completely chilled out and Jeremy was a little antsy. I grabbed his hand and rubbed my thumb on the back of his hand. That at least got his leg to stop shaking. I counted that as a win.  
“You don’t seem nervous at all.” Jeremy whispered to Jenna.  
“I’m not. I’m only doing this for you guys.” Jenna whispered back.  
The auditions were going on and I felt my nerves start to bother me. He was going in order of grade so we would be basically last.  
“Hey.” Jeremy whispered into my ear.  
I turned to look at him.  
“Thank you for doing this for me. I love you and you’re gonna do great.”  
I smiled. I brought his hand up to my lips and pressed a soft kiss onto the knuckles.  
“Anything for you. I love you too.”  
The auditions felt like the fastest and slowest process all at the same time. Mr. Reyes explained that since we got more people than expected, the auditions would be two days. The group choreo learning would be tomorrow and the solo/duet auditions would be today. I wasn’t worried at all about the dancing part, just the singing. Soon enough, it got to the senior class. Jake ended up being the first to go. He sang “Good Kid” and did a pretty good job doing it. A few other seniors performed after him and then it was Christine and Jeremy’s turn. They kept assuring me that I would like the song they chose. The moment the song played, I recognized it. It was “Strong” from The Lighting Theif. It was a good choice since it had some dialogue and singing. The two of them were super talented. They killed the song and I was so proud of both of them. I couldn’t see Mr. Reyes’ face but he better be impressed. They sounded amazing together and if they didn’t get major roles, it would be anarchy. Jeremy didn’t sing much in the song but his acting really sold it. I looked around 90% of the people were stunned. The rest of them were either not paying attention or were just jealous assholes. Right after Jeremy and Christine went, Rich went on. He sang “Wait for it.” I wasn’t surprised at all. When Jeremy sat down, I pulled him into a quick kiss.  
“You did amazing babe.”  
He smiled and a light blush grazed his face.  
“Thanks Micah.”  
Then there was another senior who I’ve seen in passing but didn’t know. Jenna answered for me and said her name was Lexi. She was pretty good. After that, it was Brooke’s turn. She ended up singing “Lifeboat.” and I was glad that I didn’t pick that song. By the looks on Christine’s face, she was glad too. I was surprised none of the guys sang “Freeze Your Brain.” It was such a popular song but I guess it was just some sort of fate. Chloe went up and sang “World Burn.” How she got away with that is beyond me but it was still entertaining to watch. Then it was Madeline’s turn. I never expected Madeline to do theatre but I guess she’s full of surprises. I didn’t end up knowing the song she sang but Christine did. Apparently it was called “Everything Changes.” I heard Jeremy mention the musical “Waitress” vaguely. Then it was Jenna, who sang “I’d Rather Be Me.” I’ve heard Jenna sing before but she sounded the best she ever had on the stage. I didn’t know who he was calling next but I guess I didn’t have to wait very long.  
“Michael Mell?” He called out.  
I felt my heart pang. Well, here goes nothing. As I stood up, I felt eyes on me. I also heard some whispers. Did people whisper when the others went on? Jeremy gave me a quick squeeze to my hand before letting it go. I walked up to the stage and wow was it intimidating. Dustin Kropp talked to me, asking me which I was doing. Apparently, Dustin had been in charge of some part of the drama department this year. As the music played, I felt my nerves even more than before. I started singing and prayed I sounded good. My nerves did calm down towards the end of the song and I was able to hit everything I needed to. When the song ended, I quickly glanced at Mr.Reyes’ face. He showed signs of being surprised and I wondered if that was a good reaction.  
“Thank you.” He said simply.  
I took that as a sign to walk off stage and back to my seat. There were a few more people after me. My heart was racing.  
“Damn Mikey, I didn’t know you could sing.” Rich said to me.  
“Um...thanks?”  
I felt a kiss being pressed to my cheek.  
“You did amazing babe. That’s the best I’ve ever heard you sing.”  
I smiled. It gave me a little faith.  
\-----  
The second day of auditions was way less scary, basically Dustin took groups of people, taught them a section of the We’re All In This Together choreo and that was it. I then realized how many people in our school couldn’t dance, like at all. I wasn’t trying to be rude and I wasn’t a great dancer myself, but I wouldn’t be surprised if some of these kids didn’t know the right from their left. After auditions, Mr.Reyes gave an announcement.  
“Everyone who came to the auditions will have some part in the musical. The cat list will be posted sometime next week.”  
He then went on a tangent saying about how dedicated you had to be to be in theatre and how he was proud of everyone for working so hard and all that kind of stuff. As the week passed, I realized there were three types of people who waited for the cast list. Ones like Rich, Jake and Jenna who barely even remembered auditioning and had really no heart set on any role, ones like Brooke, Chloe and I who were just kinda there and watching what happened and ones like Jeremy and Christine who were all over finding out how they got casted. I’ve never seen someone so nervous yet so anxious as I have seen Christine for the last few days. She was basically going insane. When the cast list was posted, she was the first one to know. She snapped a quick picture of it and ran away before getting caught in the crowd. She quickly ran over to where the rest of us were sitting on the stairs.  
“Guys! Guys! Cast List!” She exclaimed.  
She sat down on on the steps and sent it to the group chat.  
Goin Viral Deserved Better  
Theatre Geek  
*Image Sent*  
I looked at it and smiled as I saw who got the leading roles.  
“I got Gabriella!”Christine exclaimed happily. She stood up and did a small victory dance.  
“I got Troy? How? I’m like the least athletic looking dude.” Jeremy said.  
“Well, you’ve been chosen! Live it up Jere!”  
It was nice to see Christine get this happy.  
“I got Sharpay.” Chloe informed us.  
No one really said anything.  
“What?” She asked, glancing at the rest of us.  
“Chloe, you were made for that role.” Rich told her,  
She huffed but a small smile formed onto her face.  
“I got Ryan. Aren’t her and Sharpay siblings?” Jake asked.  
“Yeah.”  
Chloe and Jake looked at each other.  
“Mom’s got some explaining to do.”  
We all chuckled.  
“I got Kelsi.” Brooke said happily.  
“I got Taylor.” Jenna said with a shrug.  
“I got Zeke!” Rich exclaimed happily.  
“Who the hell is Zeke?” Jake asked.  
“I don’t know but he has a name, meaning he’s important!”  
“He’s the baking guy.” Jeremy told him.  
“Oh sweet! I loved that guy!”  
“And yet you didn’t know his name.” Chloe interjected.  
Rich shushed her.  
“Who did you get Mikey?” Brooke asked.  
I shrugged. I couldn’t find my name anywhere on the list. Everyone looked at their phones.  
“Oh! I found it!” Christine exclaimed.  
“Who’d he get?”  
“Chad!”  
I got a big role?  
“Wow, they really can’t keep Jeremy and Michael from being best friends.”  
I smiled and looked at Jeremy. He held out his hand and I took it. I stood up and he pulled me into a hug. He kissed me on the nose.  
“I’m so proud of you Micah.” He said softly.  
“I’m so proud of you too Mr. Bolton.”  
We both stared into each other’s eyes when I felt something being thrown at me.  
I looked over and saw Rich laughing.  
“What the hell?”  
“Look man, I’m just protecting the PDA rules this school holds.”  
I rolled my eyes. I let go of Jeremy and looked at the rest of the group. Jake had a look on his face.  
“I just realized Jeremy and Christine have to act like they're in love.”  
Everyone looked at Jake.  
“Oh yeah, he has a point.”  
Jeremy and Christine looked at each other before scrunching up their noses.  
“You two are acting like it’s the worst thing that’s ever happened to you.” Rich pointed out.  
“Well I mean...it’s better than being paired with a stranger.”  
“Plus you can reconnect with your old chemistry.” Brooke added.  
We looked at her.  
“Right…” She said as she looked between Jeremy and I.  
The bell rang and everyone started going to their classes. I started to head to my locker when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned back and it was Christine.  
“Mikey, I don’t like Jeremy like that… at least not anymore. He’s all yours.”  
Was I really gonna get the rep of being the jealous boyfriend now? Yes I was jealous of Brooke that one time and of a few other people some other times but I wasn’t insanely jealous or anything. Or at least I hoped it didn’t seem that way.  
“Chris, I know.” I assured her.  
She smiled and then walked away. I really had to fix this rep I had going on.  
\----  
Our first rehearsal was pretty easy since we were just reading the script. I would go on stage, read and then walk back. Someone would come up to me and tried to talk to me each time I would go backstage. I wasn’t really trying to talk very much. I kinda just wanted to observe what was going on. But that didn’t last for very long. I wasn’t one of those seniors who hated on freshmen. I was a freshman once to and hated the seniors who would be super rude to us and wanted to be nothing like them. A few timid freshmen girls came up to talk to me. The conversations didn’t really get past a hi though. It was pretty awkward but they seemed nice enough. I didn’t get to do much talking though since I was on stage quite a bit. When I wasn’t on stage one time, a familiar person came up to me.  
“Michael right?”  
“Umm yeah… hi Madeline.”  
“Is this seat taken?” She asked and pointed at the chair next to me.  
Before I could even answer, she sat down. Madeline was playing Miss. Darbus.  
“So, you’re a friend of Chloe right?”  
I nodded. I didn’t know the history behind Madeline and Chloe but I knew there was bad blood.  
“Well, I just want you to be careful with her. You seem like a nice guy and I don’t want you to get hurt.”  
I furrowed my eyebrows. When had Madeline ever cared about my well being? She wasn’t like a super major bully towards me or anything but she wasn’t exactly kind towards me either.  
“You know, Chloe and I used to be friends in middle school.” She said suddenly.  
My eyes widened. I never really paid much attention to the popular kids or whatever so I never really knew.  
“Yeah, she was one of my best friends until Jake asked me out.”  
I knew that Jake and Madeline had a thing but that was way over.  
“She told me I couldn’t date Jake because she liked him. Now all she does is spread rumours about me and I haven’t done anything to her. Last year, I hooked up with Jake and she was jealous so that’s why she started calling me a slut.”  
I knew Chloe wasn’t the nicest person in the world and I knew that Chloe calling Madeline a slut was true but I didn’t really know the reason why she had hated Madeline beforehand.  
“Oh, I’m sorry. Chloe is different now.”  
Madeline scoffed.  
“You think it’s right to call girls sluts?”  
“What? No! That’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying that Chloe’s grown a lot.”  
“And yet she still gossips about people.”  
Sure Chloe had gossiped every now and then but she wasn’t a horrible person. Ok, the gossiping thing doesn’t make her sound great but if you really knew her, you'd know how she could be nice.  
“Anyway, she’s playing Sharpay, very fitting. Stuck up and bratty. Plus, she gets to prey on Jeremy again.”  
I glared at her. I knew about what happened during the party. Jeremy had told me when we were trying to repair our friendship.  
“Isn’t he your boyfriend?”  
“Yeah, Jeremy’s my boyfriend.” I said slowly.  
She looked at the stage.  
“I mean, I hate to be that person but… don’t you feel weird that him and Christine are playing lovers? I mean they dated before so…”  
I sighed.  
“They don’t like each other anymore.”  
“Really? The look on Jeremy’s face says otherwise.”  
I looked at Jeremy and he looked...very happy. No, I wasn’t going to be jealous. I had nothing to be jealous of. Madeline was just trying to get into my head.  
“He doesn’t like her. We are perfectly fine.”  
I felt her hand touch my knee and I flinched.  
“I just don’t want you to get hurt Mikey.” She said before standing up and leaving. It felt like I could still feel her hand on my knee.  
“You were talking to Madeline?”  
I looked behind me and saw Brooke standing there.  
“Umm… she just came up to me.”  
Brooke sat down in the chair next to me.  
“I don’t mean to pry or anything but… what did she say?”  
Should I tell her?  
“I mean, you don’t have to or anything but…”  
My relationship with Brooke was different with the relationship I had with the rest of my friends. I cared a lot about Brooke but sometimes I just felt like she only dealt with me for Jeremy’s sake. We hung out sometimes but it was always with Chloe or Jeremy also there. We hung out like once alone and she seemed upset the whole time. It was almost like she didn’t want to spend any actual time with me. I had a question on my mind for a while now and I needed to ask it.  
“Why don’t you like me?”  
Brooke seemed taken back by the question.  
“What? What do you mean?”  
“I mean… you always hang out with the others alone and whenever we hang out, it’s with Chloe or Jeremy and the one time we did hang out, you seemed upset and like you didn’t want to be there.” I rambled.  
Brooke frowned.  
“Mikey, of course I like you. You are the sweetest guy in the world. I’m sorry we don’t hang out very often. You and Jeremy are always hanging out and I don’t wanna intrude or anything. I kinda always assumed you didn’t like me so that’s why I brought Jeremy and Chloe. I thought you wouldn’t come otherwise.”  
Brooke thought I didn’t like her? How can you not like Brooke?  
“Of course I would go.”  
She giggled.  
“Well I know that now. How about we go out to the mall this weekend?”  
I smiled.  
“That sounds great.”  
It was pretty awkward for a few seconds.  
“Um...Madeline said a few different things.”  
Brooke perked up at this.  
“Please don’t tell Chloe I told you.”  
She furrowed her eyebrows but nodded slowly.  
“She told me the reason why her and Chloe aren’t friends.”  
“She called Chloe jealous...didn’t she?”  
I nodded.  
“She also kinda hinted towards the fact that Jeremy still liked Christine.”  
Brooke looked angry.  
“How could she say that?”  
She looked at me and put her and my shoulder.  
“You know that boy is crazy about you...right?”  
I shrugged.  
“Well he totally is. The last time we hung out he was talking about you the whole time. We were just walking around and he would say things like ‘Michael would like this’ and went on a rant about how amazing you were. I had to ask if he wanted to end our hanging out early to go hang out with you.”  
I smiled and felt my face get a little hot.  
“He is not leaving you for Christine. What I said earlier about the past chemistry was a dumb joke alright?”  
I nodded.  
“Thanks Brooke, you’re an amazing friend.”  
She smiled brightly.  
“Where is our Kelsi?” Mr.Reyes asked.  
“Opps, gotta run.” She said quickly before stepping onto stage.  
Jenna came and sat next to me.  
“Hey Mell, what’s up?”  
I shrugged.  
“How you enjoying it so far?” She asked, referring to the stage.  
“I mean...it’s a bit overwhelming but it’s pretty nice.”  
Jenna smirked.  
“I’ve seen some girls come up and talk to you.”  
“Yeah, mostly freshmen.”  
“You know they think you’re cute?”  
I laughed.  
“Yeah right.”  
“They do. I heard a few girls talking about you. They were like ‘who’s that cute guy in the hoodie?’ like damn Mell, you’ve got it.”  
“What? Really? You would think they’d be all over Jake or something.”  
“Well obviously they are all over Jake but they see you as more approachable.”  
I looked at her and she shrugged.  
“Look, I’m just the messenger. One of the girls...um… Lauren? She asked me to talk to you for her.”  
“Lauren? Who’s Lauren?”  
She looked around and as discreetly as she could, pointed out a random girl.  
“She’s a freshman, advanced classes and is very much into gaming and singing.”  
I raised my eyebrow at her.  
“What? I know things.”  
“Don’t they know I have a boyfriend?”  
“Some of these people either don’t know or don’t care.”  
“Why did she ask for your help when she doesn’t even know you?”  
“She saw me talking to you during auditions.”  
“Did she not notice Jeremy and I holding hands or the kisses?”  
Jenna shrugged.  
The rest of rehearsal was pretty tame. No one else really tried to talk to me, which I was thankful for. I had no clue where Chloe, Jake and Rich were but I assumed they were around. Maybe this whole musical thing wasn’t so bad.  
\----  
Ok it was hell. It was fun, don’t get me wrong but everything was crazy. We had to learn scenes, songs and dancing. Majority of the people in the drama club never even stepped foot on a stage, including me. We were going over the choreo for “Getcha Head In The Game” and it was going pretty well for me. I could learn the steps pretty easily. Jeremy on the other hand…. To say it nicely… was a complete mess. I absolutely loved him more than anything but I don’t lie. He was usually really good at learning dances and stuff but I think the whole lead thing was making him frustrated. Dustin said that we could have a break so he could work with Chloe and Jake. Jeremy walked out of the theatre. Jenna and I looked at each other before I ran after him.  
I looked around and saw him sitting on the floor. He had his head in his hands.  
“Jere?”  
He didn’t look up.  
“Babe?”  
He still didn’t look up. I got down on the floor next to him and put my arm around him. He immediately leaned into my side. I felt him shaking and heard him sniffling.  
“It’s ok baby, I’m here for you.” I said as I lightly swayed him.  
“I can’t do it Micah.” He sobbed.  
“Yes you can.” I assured him.  
“No, I keep messing it up. I’m gonna mess up the show.”  
“Jere… look at me.”  
He shook his head. I sighed. I decided to just keep talking.  
“You aren’t gonna mess up the show. You’ve been working so hard and I’m so proud of you. So you can’t get a few steps? I can help you.”  
He sniffed and slowly looked up at me. My heart cracked at the sight of his red eyes and a tear rolling down his cheek.  
“Really?”  
I kissed the top of his head.  
“Of course I will. I don’t care how long it takes, if you want, I’ll help you.”  
“Thank you.” He said and started to cry more.  
He put his head back down and cried into my shoulder. I rubbed his back slowly in order to calm him down. Eventually, he did.  
“Come on, let’s go to the bathroom.” I said as I slowly got up.  
I held out my hand to him and he took it. I lifted him off the ground and we headed in the direction of the bathroom.  
“What about your nerd tissues?”  
I looked at him and chuckled.  
“Shut up dork.”  
After a few minutes of Jeremy wiping his eyes, we went back. Jeremy avoided eye contact with everyone. There were some rogue whispers but Rich and Jenna all shot them glares that made them shut up pretty quickly. Seeing Chloe and Jake on stage was very different. They kinda had the duo of Ryan and Sharpay naturally so it fit them.  
“Isn’t it kinda weird how they dated but they are now playing siblings?” Rich asked.  
Oh right….  
“Shut up Rich.” Brooke said.  
We all laughed. Suddenly, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around and it was Lauren.  
“Um… hi.” She said quietly.  
“Hey.” I said with a smile.  
Her face grew pink.  
“I umm…you are a really good singer.”  
“Oh thanks, I appreciate it….”  
I decided to talk to her a little more. I mean, she seemed super nice and I would’ve felt bad if I didn’t.  
“What part are you playing?” I asked her.  
“Oh, I’m Martha.”  
I looked back at Jeremy, waiting for him to tell me who that was.  
“It’s the girl who likes Hip Hop Mikey.”I nodded.  
“So...do you actually like hip hop?”  
That was a super awkward thing to say.  
“Oh I mean… I don’t really listen to it or anything…”  
“Neither do I. It’s Bob Marley or nothing.”  
“Or musicals.” Rich butt in.  
“Right, that too.”  
She smiled before looking back to a group of girls. They were all looking at her expectantly and nodding.  
“So… umm… canIhaveyournumber?” She mumbled.  
I didn’t hear what she said but I assume Rich heard it. He was trying to hold back laughter.  
“Huh?”  
“Can I uh...have your number?”  
I looked at Jeremy and he didn’t react. I looked back at Lauren.  
“I’m sorry but I don’t know how my boyfriend would feel about that.”  
Her eyes widened before she muttered a quick apology. Rich started laughing, which Brooke then proceeded to hit him for.  
“She was a nice girl.” Brooke said to Rich.  
“I know but it was funny.”  
“It was kinda funny.” Jenna added in.  
Brooke shot Jenna a look. Brooke then stood up and walked over to the group of girls. She was talking to Lauren.  
“Man, Brooke is way too nice.” Rich commented.  
“Oh hush Rich. Anyway Jeremy.” Jenna said as she turned her attention to Jeremy.  
He hummed.  
“How do you feel about all these girls all over Mikey?” She asked.  
He shrugged.  
“I mean, it kinda sucks but I know I can give Micah what he wants.”  
My eyes widened as my face turned red. Jenna and Rich started laughing. Despite the tad embarrassment, everything was great. Oh boy, I was in for a treat.  
\----  
I’ve heard things about Tech week. I heard that it was super stressful and was basically like hell. I always assumed people were just being dramatic. Little did I know how hectic tech week got. I assumed I was doing pretty well. I knew my cues, my lines and dances so I thought I would be fine. What I didn’t expect was Mr.Reyes to be calling out basically everyone on any little thing that was done wrong. Also, props were not being bought in on time, sets were being bought in too late, lines and dance moves were being forgotten left and right and everything that could go wrong seemed to go wrong. Christine kept things as positive as she could but it surely wasn’t easy for her. Everyone was nervous and on edge and there was only so much she could do. Her main focus was on keeping our group happy. I also tried to help Jeremy calm down. We had one last rehearsal before our first show and it was dress rehearsal. Surprisingly, people snapped into place. Things weren’t 100% perfect, but it was way better than things had been the rest of the week. I finally got around to telling my moms about the musical. Whenever they would ask about what I was doing after school, I just told them I was in a new club. They asked me which club and I told them it didn’t matter. I knew they would make a big deal about it so I didn’t tell them until I needed to. They were ecstatic to find out their son was “breaking out of his comfort zone.” I was terrified on opening night. Everything was super chaotic from the moment school ended. We had 3 hours to prepare everything. I quickly changed into my costume and then went to go help Jeremy calm down. He was super nervous and even though I was, I needed to be there for Jeremy.  
“What if I forget a line?”  
“You won’t Jere, even if you do, you are good at improv acting.”  
“Still, it messes up everyone else.”  
“I’m sure they’ll do fine.” I assured him.  
Soon enough, we were called to get into places. I took a deep breath. Here goes nothing.  
++Time Skip++  
Everything was going fine...until Jeremy saw something in the crowd. It wasn’t really obvious that things were off but I noticed it. I was going to ask him but I got reprimanded by a tech person backstage. I couldn’t blame her though, she was just doing her job. The show seemed to fly by pretty quickly but was super fun. I can’t believe I had to do it 2 more nights though. Being on stage wasn’t as bad as I thought. Would I ever step onto another tage ever again after this? Absolutely not, but it was fun. If it wasn’t for my friends, I would never have done this even if you paid me. I started it for the slushies, which were completely worth it by the way. Who knew I would actually like it? Well Jeremy and Christine assumed I would. They always tell me I should use my voice more because it sounded good. I didn’t really agree with them. I mean, I could be somewhat decent but I never thought I would get this far. I was a major character in my first musical. We had been rehearsing super hard for all of this. It finally felt worth it. The curtain call was a whole different experience. 

We rehearsed to go while “We’re All In This Together” kept on playing. At least Jenna and I got to bounce off each other. While we bowed, we also had to do something in character. I never really cared much about Chad in the movie but I did know that Taylor and Chad had a thing going on. Jenna and I decided to construct a little something. Right after we bowed, I leaned in, acting like I was gonna kiss her. Then she would put her hand out and push me with a smile on her face. The crowd got a kick out of that. During the musical, when Troy and Gabriella were about to kiss, I got to come in the middle of them and stop it. Now though, Jeremy picked up Christine, spun her around and pulled her into a fake kiss. He covered the side facing the audience with his hand and leaned in. Even though I assured Jeremy that a stage kiss wasn’t a big deal, he decided it was just better to do it this way. We then got to perform the Megamix, which was one of my favorite parts. We basically got to sing a mashup of all the songs all over again with similar choreo. After that we got to go greet the audience. I didn’t really want to but I was supposed to. Plus, I knew my moms would want to see me. The moment they saw me, they smothered me with hugs.  
“My little star!” Nanay exclaimed.  
They both kept hugging me.  
“Wait… we should tell him.” Mom said suddenly, pulling away from the hug.  
“Huh?”  
“There’s someone here and you can’t get mad.” Nanay warned.  
I was about to ask who but my eyes met with someone who I haven’t seen in years. I rushed to go find Jeremy. That’s probably what threw him off. I couldn’t find him anywhere.  
“Brooke!” I called out.  
She took her attention away from the person she was talking to and turned to look at me.  
“Where’s Jeremy?” I asked.  
“Oh, I thought he was with you. Maybe Christine knows?”  
I nodded before I went to find her. I had to push through the crowd in order to talk to her. Was it rude? Yes. Was it necessary? Absolutely.  
“Chris? Where’s Jeremy?”  
“I’m pretty sure I saw him with Rich and Jake. They headed into the hall.”  
“Thanks Chris.” I said quickly before rushing out of the theatre. I bumped into someone as I ran past them.  
“Sorry.” We both said at the same time.  
I then realized it was Jake.  
“Michael! I’ve been texting you.”  
“My phone is in the dressing room, where’s Jeremy?” I asked.  
He didn’t say anything. He grabbed my wrist and dragged me down the hall.  
“What’s going on?” I asked frantically.  
“Jeremy’s having a panic attack. I don’t know what happened but he keeps mumbling and Rich and I don’t know what to do.” He explained.  
His mother. He saw his mother. How could she come and do this to him? She left and was completely willing to kick Jeremy out of her life. Why would she come and ruin this for him? We both entered the bathroom and Jeremy was sitting on the floor and Rich was standing in front of him, but not too close. Rich didn’t see me since he asked,  
“Where’s Michael?”  
I came out from behind Jake and rushed over to Jeremy. I’ve had to deal with this panic attacks before so I knew what to do.  
“Jere? Can you hear me?”  
He slowly nodded.  
“Can I touch your hand?”  
There’s never been a time he said no but I didn’t want to scare him. Once again, he nodded. I slowly reached out and grabbed his hand and placed it on my chest.  
“Come on baby, follow my breathing.”  
He shook his head.  
“Can’t.”  
“I know you can Jere. Come on, you’ve got this.” I said softly.  
“Am I gonna die?” He asked.  
‘Of course not baby, just follow my breathing.”  
I took a deep breath and held it before letting it out. Jeremy closed his eyes and tried to focus on his breathing. It took a while but finally, he calmed down.  
“Are you ok?” I asked him.  
He shook his head.  
“Want a hug?”  
He nodded. I slowly pulled him into a hug. We stayed like that for a few minutes.  
“My dad is probably looking for me.” He said quietly.  
I nodded. We both got off the floor. I don’t know when Jake and Rich left but they weren’t there.  
“Wanna get our stuff before we find your dad.”  
He nodded.  
“I feel bad. I was supposed to go and talk to people but she’s here and…”  
“I know baby. No one is mad at you.”  
He stayed quietly. We snuck backstage without getting caught and grabbed our stuff.  
“Shouldn’t we change out of these?”  
I shrugged.  
“Probably.”  
We both changed back into our original things. I was about to put on my hoodie when I looked over at Jeremy.  
“You want this?” I asked and held it out to him.  
“It’s your hoodie.”  
“Yeah, I know. I asked if you wanted it.”  
He didn’t say anything more. He slowly took it out of my hands and put it on.  
“Thank you Micah.”  
I smiled.  
“Anytime, now let’s go.”  
We made our way back to the main part of the aud. There were still some people there but way less than before. We found Jeremy’s dad but before we could go to him, we were stopped by someone.  
“Hey Jeremy.”  
Jeremy tensed.  
“Um...hi mom.”  
“How are you doing? I haven’t seen you in forever.”  
Maybe because you abandoned him.  
“I’m fine, how are you?”  
“I’m great. You did wonderful tonight sweetie.”  
She finally seemed to notice I was standing there.  
“Oh Michael. It’s nice to see you. I sat next to your moms. I love them.”  
They don’t love you.  
“It’s nice to see you too.” I lied.  
She smiled until she saw that my arm was wrapped around Jeremy’s waist.  
“Oh you guys were always so close.”  
The fake niceness in her voice seemed to start fading.  
“Yeah… mom?”  
She hummed.  
“Michael is...my boyfriend.”  
“I know, he’s a boy and he’s your friend Jeremy. I’m not an idiot.”  
I beg to differ.  
“No mom, I mean, we’re dating.”  
She looked disgusted.  
“This is a phase baby, it’ll all go away soon.”  
I looked over at Jeremy and he looked pissed.  
“Mom, I don’t want to do this here but it’s not a phase. I love Michael.”  
“Jeremy, can I speak to you?”  
She then looked again at me.  
“Alone?” She added on.  
“Anything you have to say, you can say it in front of my boyfriend.”  
“Jeremiah, I need to talk to you alone.” She demanded.  
“Jere, it’s ok. I’ll be back alright?”  
Jeremy looked upset but nodded. I didn’t hear much of the conversation but I heard something along the lines of “he’s manipulating you into being gay.” I decided to stop listening at that point. I went to find Jenna.  
“Hey , how’s Jeremy?” Jenna asked.  
“He’s...doing better.” I said hesitantly.  
“That doesn’t sound very sure.”  
“His mom is here.”  
Her face turned stone cold the moment I mentioned his mother.  
“And she’s not very happy that I’m dating him.”  
“I feel awful.”  
“Me too like how can she leave and then come back like nothing changed and then criticize his life choices?”  
“She’s a bitch Mell.”  
“She is and I feel bad I left Jeremy alone. His mom wanted to talk to him alone.”  
She nodded in understanding. Then Chloe came up to us.  
“Text me tonight.” Was all Chloe said before walking away.  
Jenna and I just looked at each other.  
“Was she talking to you or me?” Jenna asked.  
I shrugged.  
“Anyway, how was the first show for you?” I asked,  
“It was fine. Millions of times better than last years show. I promised myself I would never step foot on another stage ever again but Christine is very persistent. I’m glad I listened to her.”  
“I’m glad I listened to Jeremy.”  
“Oh yeah, I’ve been meaning to ask, what did Jeremy bribe you with?”  
“Slushies.”  
Jenna looked disappointed in me.  
“You could’ve gotten anything from him and you asked for a slushie?”  
“A week’s worth of slushies.” I corrected her.  
“Wow. Such a difference.” Jenna said sarcastically.  
I laughed.  
“Come with me to get my stuff real quick.” Jenna said.  
I nodded and followed her backstage. I waited outside of the dressing room and sat on my phone. Once she came back, we both started walking. Before we left the backstage area, we heard a voice start talking.  
“I don’t know man.”  
The voice was pretty hushed so we couldn’t tell who it was.  
“No one will catch us, trust me.”  
Jenna and I both looked at each other. We both knew what we had to do. Should we have left it alone? I mean to be respectful yeah but Jenna and I were both pretty nosy people. As quietly as we could, we followed the voices. They stopped after a bit so we kinda just had to guess where they were coming from. They were coming from a more private part backstage. We got closer and closer and realized it was pretty dark. Jenna pulled out her phone and turned on the flashlight. She aimed it up and it shone brightly on two people. It took a second to see but the two were definitely kissing.The people immediately jumped apart. I finally noticed who it was.  
“Jake? Rich?” I asked in shock.  
I couldn’t see Jenna’s face but I assumed it was similar to mine.  
“It’s not what it looks like.” Jake claimed.  
“So you weren’t kissing Rich?”  
Jake sighed.  
“I was...just please don’t tell anyone.”  
“Yeah, he’s not out yet.”  
“How long has this been going on?” I asked.  
“About 5 months?”  
‘“5 months?” I exclaimed.  
“Shhh, keep it down Mikey.” Rich pleaded.  
“Sorry, it’s just…5 months...you kept this for 5 months.”  
“We were gonna tell you guys I swear.” Jake added.  
“I...wow.”  
“Please don’t tell anyone.” Jake begged.  
“We won’t.”  
They both sighed in relief.  
“Thank you. We will tell the rest just give us a few days.”  
“Of course. We’re happy for you.” Jenna said with a smile.  
I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. I looked at it and saw that it was Jeremy. I quickly answered it.  
“Jere? What’s up?”  
“Micah? Can I spend the night please?”  
Jeremy sounded near desperate on the phone.  
“Of course babe, are you ok?”  
“Fuck...um yeah? I guess. Look I’ll explain more at your house. Where are you?”  
“I’m backstage with Jenna.”  
“Oh I’ll be there in a sec.”  
“No! I’m coming right now.”  
“Alright. I’ll be waiting. Love you.”  
“Love you too.” I said before hanging up.  
“I gotta go.”  
“I’ll walk with you.” Jenna said and looked at the boys. “You coming?”  
They both looked at each other.  
“Nah, we’ll be back here for a few more minutes.”  
I smirked but I knew they couldn’t see it.  
“Alright, be careful guys.”  
“We will.”  
Jenna and I both left the backstage area. I quickly caught sight of Jeremy. He was oddly happy.  
“See you later Jenna!” I said before hurrying off to go to Jeremy.  
“Hey Micah.”  
“Hey babe, you ok?”  
“You already asked that.” He said with a giggle.  
“Well yeah but you look kinda outta it.”  
“I’ll explain in the car.”  
I nodded and we both left the school. We walked over to my car and hopped inside.  
“I think I just stood up to my mother.”  
I looked at him in shock. I never thought Jeremy would have the balls to do something like that.  
“What happened?” I asked as I started to drive.  
“Well she was going on saying how us being together was weird and shit and then she started talking bad about me but then she brought you into it and I snapped. Called her a bitch and everything.”  
“Jere... you cursed out your mother for me?”  
“Of course I did dude. Dating or not, you are still my best friend. Anyone who talks bad about you will feel my wrath.”  
I chuckled.  
“That’s such a you thing to say.”  
“Yeah it is. Pretty sure she disowned me for real this time.”  
The fact he was so happy about this gave me a weird feeling. This wasn’t something he would normally be smiling about. I then looked over and realized he was on the verge of tears.  
“Micah?”  
His voice sounded so broken.  
“I’m so fucking scared. What if she comes after us? What if she keeps me from you? I can’t live without you Micah.”  
The poor boy was sobbing at this point. I wanted to pull over so badly and confort him but I needed to get him to my house first. I grabbed onto his hand and squeezed it softly.  
“That’s not gonna happen baby. I won’t let it.”  
“What are you gonna do?” Jeremy snapped.  
I stayed quiet. What would I actually be able to do? If she actually did take him away, what could I do about that. We were both under 18 so we would be almost powerless.  
“Mikey I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you, it's just…”  
“Hey, it’s ok. I know. I’m here for you. Everything will be ok. It has to be.”  
I drove Jeremy to my house and we went into the basement. I decided that I should probably text Chloe.  
To Mythic  
Hey Chloe  
I expected Chloe to take forever to answer. She would usually take hours to answer back.  
Mythic  
Call me  
To Mythic  
I’m with Jeremy right now?  
Mythic  
Do you think I care?  
Call me.  
This was weird for Chloe. She never responded fast or anything like that. I called her and she answered immediately.  
“Michael, I know you talked to Madeline.”  
Did Brooke tell her?  
“I saw you and look, I don’t care who you talk to nor is it any of my business but she told you the friend story, didn’t she?”  
Wow, Chloe was getting right to the point.  
“Well yeah.”  
She fell silent.  
“Look, I don’t blame you if you don’t wanna be friends anymore or whatever…”  
“Chloe, why do you think I wouldn’t want to be friends?”  
“Well I mean no one wants to be friends with some jealous freak…”  
“Chloe, I don’t care about what happened with you and Madeline. You’ve changed a lot.”  
“Wait really?”  
“Totally, you’re hella rad.”  
Jeremy snorted.  
“Who says that?”  
I shushed him.  
“Oh tell Jeremy I said hi, and look, sorry for getting into your business.”  
“It’s fine Chloe. She’s a bitch.”  
“Wait, I know why she’s a bitch but why are you saying it?”  
“Well um…” I started but then looked at Jeremy who was sitting on my bed.  
“I’ll just text you.” I told her.  
“But I’m on the phone with you?”  
“Yeah I know but just trust me.”  
“Alright...bye.” She said quickly before hanging up.  
“Chloe said hi.”  
He smiled.  
“Can we get high?” Jeremy asked.  
“No Jere, we have school tomorrow and plus, my moms are here.”  
“You’re acting like we’ve never smoked when your moms were here.”  
“Yeah we did, and I got grounded.”  
“They still let you see me.”  
“Yeah, I’m starting to question their grounding methods.”  
Jeremy chuckled.  
“If we can’t get high...can we watch a movie?”  
I smiled.  
“Of course we can.”  
And we spent the rest of the night cuddling and watching a movie before drifting off to sleep.  
\----  
Things did end up getting better. Both with life and the shows. Our second night was absolutely amazing. Even more people came to see it the second night. A bunch of cast members, including myself got asked to sign the Playbills they created for the musical. It was our last performance today and I was super upset. Without theatre, I would actually have to go home after school. Then I would be able to play video games with Jeremy and then...ok maybe the free after schools would be nice but still. I’ve grown decently close to a lot of the people who were there. We weren’t like best friends or anything but they would say hi to me in the halls or talk to me a bit in passing. Christine was absolutely devastated that it was the last show. It was her last show of high school and it was hitting her pretty hard. 

Tonight was our cast party, which didn’t happen last year for obvious reasons. I wasn’t one for parties. Ever since the one at Jake’s in junior, I’ve been skeptical of them. Sure we had our Fourth of July, this year’s Halloween party and the New Year’s party, and those all turned out great but it was the possibility that something bad could happen that got to me. I wouldn’t let those thoughts get to me. I was gonna have a good time tonight. Our last show made me feel so many happy emotions. I felt like I accomplished a lot by doing this show. I just felt more comfortable with myself overall. The last megamix almost made me cry and the curtain call did make me cry. The moment the curtain closed, I immediately pulled Jeremy into a hug. We went backstage and took off our mics before we went to go talk to the crowd. Jeremy, Christine, Rich, Jake, Chloe, Brooke, Jenna and I all just stayed together while we talked to the people. One of Jake’s cousins from out of town came and she seemed decently nice. Her name was Serenity and she treated Jake like her younger brother. It was really sweet to see Jake having family who supported him. His aunt also came to see the show. Rich was smiling but I could see in his eyes that he was upset. Turns out no one came to watch him in the show. His brother was too busy with work and his dad didn’t care enough. It broke my heart. After I went back to change, I got stopped by Juila. She was one of the skaters in the musical. She also worked on the sets and stuff like that. She was a super artistic girl in her junior year.  
“Hey Michael.”  
I smiled.  
“Hey Julia, what’s up?”  
I was super thankful for Julia. Not that everyone I talked to did but quite a few of the people I talked to try to hit on me. After I had it super clear I had a boyfriend, one girl said she would “turn me straight” and a guy said that “I deserved a real man.” Julia never hit on me. She was a super respectful person who just liked some of the same things I did. When I told her I had a boyfriend, instead of just walking away, she asked if she could meet him since he sounded super cool. I smiled and the moment they met, they clicked.  
“I can’t believe it’s the last show. I’m really gonna miss it.”  
“Me too, I never thought I would do theatre but here I am.”  
She chuckled.  
“Hey, I made something for you.”  
I furrowed my eyebrows.  
“You didn’t have to do any of that…”  
“Well I wanted to. Anyway…” She said as she reached into her bag.  
She pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to me. It was a super accurate drawing of the Apocalypse of the Damned logo.  
“Whoa! This is hella cool! Thanks Julia!” I said happily.  
“Wait, you say hella too?”  
“Who doesn’t?”  
“Boring people.” Julia said.  
I gave her a high five.  
“So, you going to the cast party?”  
“Nah, my family wants me home for a family thing”  
I nodded.  
“Well, I gotta head out. I hope you have a good time with your family.”  
“Thanks Michael. Talk to ya later.”  
I headed back to the main theatre. I waited for the group since we all planned to arrive there together. I would be taking Jeremy, Jenna would take Christine, Chloe would be taking Brooke and Jake would be taking Rich.  
Soon enough, everyone was ready to go to the cast party at Denny’s.  
++Time Skip++  
Now this was like no party I’ve ever been to. It wasn’t filled with drunk or high teens. Everyone there was completely sober, or so I assumed. Everyone kinda just sat in their own groups in close proximity of the others. There was some singing going on and the poor Denny’s workers looked extremely tired. I ended up buying Jeremy’s food. He told me he could buy it himself but I insisted on getting the food for him. I even bought us a milkshake to share. We ended up getting a cake batter one. I just really wanted birthday cake ice cream and that was the closest thing. Everyone was having a wonderful time.  
“Hey guys?”  
All of our group quieted down and focused on Jake.  
“I have something to tell you guys.”  
Everyone kinda just looked at each other in confusion. Jenna casted me a knowing look.  
“Well first… I’m pan.”  
The table was shocked. I was also shocked at the fact that he was doing this now.  
“That’s awesome Jake!” Christine exclaimed.  
There were more congratulations going around the table.  
“That’s not all. I’ve been seeing someone.” He confessed.  
Now that’s what really got the group shocked.  
“Wait, who?” Brooke asked.  
Jake smiled before lifting his hand above the table and into our view. His hand wasn’t the only one that could be seen. Rich’s fingers were intertwined with Jake’s.  
This caused pretty loud commotion and I felt awful for the Denny’s workers. No one else around us seemed to be fazed by what was going on.  
“How long?” Christine asked.  
“5 months.” They both said at the same time.  
That caused their jaws to drop.  
“How come you aren’t shocked?” Brooke asked me.  
I shrugged.  
“I guess I wasted all my shock on when I first found out.”  
Chloe and Jeremy both slapped me in the arm.  
“Ow!” I exclaimed.  
“You knew and didn’t tell us?”  
“One, there was no need to hit me. Two, Jenna also knew so hit her too. Three, they told me not to.”  
No one ended up hitting Jenna. Maybe it was because she threatened to snap anyone’s neck if they did. The rest of the cast party was filled with laughter and happiness. Rich and Jake had their hands clasped together on the table and it made me feel like a proud dad. I really hoped that Rich’s dad wouldn’t freak out if he found out about them together. I didn’t know much about his dad since Rich vaguely talked about him and almost never really invited anyone over. It was probably for the best though. I just hoped Rich would be ok. I looked at the two of them together and smiled. Jake would be there to protect him.

**Author's Note:**

> It's been forever since I've been in theatre so I don't remember how auditions/rehearsals go. I hope you enjoy.  
> Follow me on insta: ohshesnotfrench


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